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Hey google?

by 14 Comments

Play Hungry like the wolf. I use my smart speaker for all kinds of shit. I love it. What do y’all think of this technology?

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  2. Me: Hey Google, play I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles by The Cockney Rejects.
    Google: No! I refuse, but as I am just a piece of electronic gubbins with no power of original thought or reasoning, then if I must …

  3. I don’t use those devices as, for me, I can’t see the point in owning them. I don’t need to stream music around my single-bedroom flat. My digitised music is controlled from a laptop that’s connected to my stereo in my living room, as is the TV. Or I can play CDs or vinyl if I want.

    • Alexa is built in to the Sonos system, so I use it occasionally, if I’m up to my elbows in the washing up for instance. There are problems, though…

      Hey Alexa, play Frank Sinatra.
      Alexa: playing Frank Sinatra on Spotify.
      Hey Alexa, did I say play non-stop Christmas music by Frank Sinatra? I think you’ll find I didn’t.

  4. I resisted getting one until recently, and only relented because the wife insisted on playing Radio 2 on a radio with a godawful tinny sound. Sarah Cox was a bad enough listen already when I came home of an evening. I am now able, with a degree of subtelty, to request Echo to switch to a more acceptable choice of tunes. Oh, and I refused to call ‘it’ Alexa. Sound quality, 4th gen, is pretty good.

  5. I’m with Bellows on this one. Didn’t want Alexa but came with my Sonos. “Not using that” I said. Today I reckon 90% of my music listening starts with “Alexa play…”. The other 10% is me rooting through my collection for Van Morrison bootlegs.

  6. I got offered a free Google Nest speaker last Christmas as I was a paying user of their Google Music service. It remained in its box for 3 months or so because we were wary of it but now it’s great.

    it can be flaky – you can ask it to play an album and sometimes it’ll just play the first track which is annoying as heck, but in such cases i just kick it off using youtube music on the phone and let it go from there.

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